Kvass
Kvass is a lightly alcoholic beer made from fermenting black rye bread. Goldstein explains kvass "ranks second only to vodka as a popular libation," adding, "in a unique 19th-century religious sect, it outranked even vodka. The believers were known as
kvasniki since they eschewed all drinks except kvass."
Kvass is a lightly alcoholic beer made from fermenting black rye bread. | Katrina Frederick
Originally brewed in monasteries and predating vodka, this drink came to be sold in the Soviet streets by the truckload, doled out to masses of thirsty proletariat workers.
In an unlikely departure from most libations, kvass can also be used as a soup base. Called